Xavier Becerra: “on January 23 of this year, the President in his State of the Union address said, ``This is not the fight we entered in…”

“on January 23 of this year, the President in his State of the Union address said, ``This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we are in.'' Nearly 4 years after President Bush took us to war, 4 years, that is longer than our involvement in World War II, it is fair to say that this is not the debate we expected to have, but it is the debate we must have. We owe it to our troops who have fought honorably and valiantly, and we owe it to the American people. More than 3,100 American soldiers dead, more than 23,000 American soldiers injured, $500 billion in costs, 14,000 weapons that our Nation bought for the Iraqi Army missing, $9 billion in reconstruction funds missing. Mr. Speaker, stay-the-course has failed, and sending 20,000 more troops is no more than stay-the-course on steroids. The American people would know this had the previous Republican Congresses exercised their oversight responsibilities to tell the American people what was going on. They would have known, for example, that we have already tried three previous troop surges. In each case, between 17,000 to 21,000 troops. Have we seen the improvement? What are things like today? Where were the hearings to find out how those troop surges went? Where are the reports? Mr. Speaker, this is a debate long overdue. The truth is, Iraqis must take responsibility for their own future.”